MDCalc

McDonald Criteria for Multiple Sclerosis (2017 Revision)

Diagnoses multiple sclerosis.

Changes from the 2010 McDonald Criteria:

  1. Presence of CSF-specific oligoclonal bands may now substitute for dissemination in time (DIT) even if baseline MRI findings do not meet DIT criteria.

  2. In patients with brainstem or spinal cord attacks, symptomatic lesions may now be included as MRI evidence of dissemination in space (DIS) or DIT.

  3. Cortical lesions may now fulfill MRI criteria for DIS (in addition to juxtacortical lesions).

Clinical attacks

Must have ≥1 clinical attack

Lesions

Must have ≥1 lesion

Diagnostic Result

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Advice

Threshold for additional testing (i.e., spinal cord MRI or CSF examination) should be low, according to the international panel that developed these criteria.